The awards are sponsored by Photonics Media and SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. Winners will be announced Feb. 17 during SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco, at a gala banquet that has become the largest gathering of CEOs, VIPs and entrepreneurs in photonics.

Entries are judged by an independent panel of experts including industry executives, leading academic researchers, venture capitalists and past Prism Award winners.

"The range and depth of submissions to this competition are welcome reminders of the vibrancy of our broad industrial frontier," said SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs. "The creativity and execution in our community is amazing. The 27 finalists for the 2016 Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation have employed a wide variety of photonics technologies in developing new products that will touch nearly every area of our lives.

"I do not envy the judges the difficulty they faced in choosing just three in each category. Seeing these new products emerge from ideas presented in our conference rooms and exhibition halls over the years is very gratifying. Being part of this important competition provides a sense of how these ideas evolve into useful devices that become new products, new tools of regeneration of this exciting field I congratulate all these innovators."

"This is a time of reflection for all of us at Photonics Media and Laurin Publishing, following the recent loss of our founder, Teddi Laurin," said Laurin Publishing CEO Thomas Laurin. "As we contemplate her impact on our business and on the photonics industry, we are reminded that she understood the need to recognize innovation and to applaud the companies that achieve it.

"Her vision was realized in the Circle of Excellence Awards, which celebrated technical breakthroughs in this industry from 1987 to 2005, and which were a precursor to the Prism Awards for Photonics Innovation. In Teddi's memory, and on behalf of everyone at Laurin Publishing, I'm pleased to join SPIE in recognizing and celebrating these finalists, and sharing their innovations with our global audience."

The Prism Awards were developed to recognize innovative products that are newly available on the open market. Each category is meant to isolate a specific contribution in photonics, in a technology area or sector of the industry. Categories have been added, removed, and updated over time to reflect trends in the industry. One winner will be selected from among the three finalists in each category.